Playdead on Vita: Touch wouldn't suit Limbo at all

Lots of effort going into making the game work on the handheld's screen.

The PlayStation Vita version of Limbo won't feature touch controls, but the port remains the most costly of all, Playdead has told Eurogamer at GDC.

"[The Vita port] cost us more than the other ports because we put a lot of effort into it," said CEO Dino Patti.

"When we ported to PC we put a lot of effort into making the keyboard work. It wasn't straight. It took months and months of testing and trying out. We did a lot of QA around keyboard controls.

"It's the same with the Vita. It needs to be perfect for that screen. There are some things that are different for when the screen is smaller we do to make it work better."

Regarding touch, Patti says it would be more worthwhile to create an all new game than patch touch controls into the Vita game.

"We're not using any touch," Patti confirmed. "We didn't feel it would suit Limbo at all. It would feel like a patch if we did it. And we really like the original experience. The Vita allows you to have the original experience.

"It would require a lot from us to rethink the game. We would probably make another game if we were going to do that. Vita was a no-brainer because we could keep the same experience. It has all of these great features, but we didn't have to use them."

The Vita version is being developed by LBP Vita studio Double Eleven in collaboration with Playdead, a decision Patti is pleased about.

"They're pretty talented. We're happy about that. We don't believe in outsourcing, because you normally take the quality down. But in this instance they really proved themselves," he explained. "Right now we're talking to them about other stuff because we think they're a really talented team. They understand us."